Do loopholes in 'good Samaritan' policies keep college students from helping dangerously drunk friends?

It’s a reality colleges have come to accept even while they campaign against it: Some underage students will experiment with alcohol. That’s why many colleges have adopted policies that protect students who seek medical help for themselves or others who may be dangerously intoxicated.

Such amnesty or good Samaritan clauses are intended to remove obvious obstacles to medical treatment, such as fear of getting suspended or expelled. But the policies often have caveats that may deter rather than encourage reporting, according to a student-led group that tracks them.

At Lafayette College, where a freshman lacrosse recruit died of a head injury after a day of drinking last month, the good Samaritan policy is spelled out on the college’s website and students interviewed by The Morning Call tended to know about it. But some said they feared that using the policy to help a student-athlete could get the athlete in trouble with coaches. Having a separate clause for athletes is a common “loophole,” according to the international nonprofit Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

The organization monitors medical amnesty clauses and in its Campus Policy Gradebook has rated numerous campuses across the country on their drug and alcohol policies. Its most recent grade book does not rate policies at Lafayette, Lehigh University or Muhlenberg College. But in the past, those schools all received a “B” in the grade book, which assigns 35 points to amnesty policies.

“The athlete example is a good example of a loophole not always considered,” said Jake Agliata, a regional outreach coordinator for the organization. “We tell the school the policy isn’t working if it’s not making everyone empowered to call for help in those scenarios. If there are these loopholes out there, people aren’t going to feel that way.”

Lafayette students who were questioned by investigators after the Sept. 11 death of 19-year-old McCrae Williams did not say they were afraid that calling for help would get Williams or themselves in trouble with coaches, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said. In fact, the first person students called for help was a lacrosse coach. That call was placed nearly 24 hours after Williams is thought to have hit his head in his dorm room, according to a timeline Morganelli presented at a news conference last month. In the interim, students checked on Williams and tried to get him out of bed. They called the coach after deciding to take Williams to the hospital, Morganelli said. And the coach then told them to call 911.

Most of the students who monitored Williams didn’t know he had hit his head, Morganelli noted. Lawyers for some of the 14 students facing charges in the hazing death of a Penn State fraternity pledge in February also have said those students didn’t realize 19-year-old Timothy Piazza’s behavior was due to a head injury and not drunkenness.

Students often are unable to determine when someone who has been drinking heavily needs medical help, Cornell University researchers found in a 2006 study on medical amnesty at U.S. colleges.

Though fear of punishment was one reason students cited as a deterrent to seeking medical help for a friend, the study found the No. 1 reason was they didn’t think they could determine if a classmate was sick enough to need help, according to Timothy Marchell, director of the Skorton Center for Health Initiatives at Cornell and a co-author of the study.

A strong amnesty policy addresses both issues, Marchell said: “It’s critical to educate students on both the content of the policy and the signs of alcohol poisoning.”

Lafayette’s policy covers both bases, spelling out signs of dangerous intoxication or other serious problems. The college was ahead of the pack in adopting a good Samaritan policy in 1999, seven years before Cornell’s research spurred more schools to act. Muhlenberg adopted its policy in 2006 and Lehigh did so in 2007. Of the three, only Lafayette alerts coaches when an athlete receives help through a good Samaritan call, a Morning Call review of the schools’ policies found.

“Coaches are notified when medical treatment is sought for a student-athlete for any reason, because those students must then be medically cleared to participate in practices and games,” Mark Eyerly, a Lafayette spokesman, confirmed.

In 2013, Lafayette’s athletic director ignited a firestorm on campus by proposing a substance abuse policy for athletes that would have superseded the good Samaritan clause. The result was a revised substance policy that athletes were involved in writing and that maintained amnesty. While it does not specify that coaches will be notified if medical treatment is sought, as Eyerly stated, it does list four phases of penalties for underage student-athletes who drink. Phase 1 involves a citation and suspension from 20 percent of the games that season. Eyerly did not respond when asked if that penalty would be imposed on a student involved in a good Samaritan incident.

Lafayette sophomore Gabby Tropp said the college does a good job educating students about amnesty and promoting it on campus in various ways, including during orientation and on posters in dorms. It’s a strong policy, she said, but would be even stronger if it didn’t treat athletes differently.

“To me, it seems that this will just discourage students from making that life-saving call, not stop them from engaging in the risky behavior in the first place,” she said.

At Muhlenberg, athletes are not singled out for different treatment in an amnesty policy written “to reduce any barriers” to student safety. With safety paramount, “we want to encourage behavior that helps us look out for each other,” said Bill Keller, Muhlenberg’s communications director.

Regardless of whether coaches are officially notified, they often find out about alcohol emergencies involving their players Marchell, the researcher, said.

“Since students need to trust that the amnesty will be applied consistently, it’s important for coaches to take an educational approach and reinforce that while underage drinking is against the rules, team members should do the right thing and call for help in an emergency,” he said.

Devon Bibbens, a sophomore football player at Lehigh University, said he was somewhat familiar with the amnesty policy and wouldn’t hesitate using it if he felt someone’s life was in danger.

“It does kind of suck that your coaches may hear and associate you with the problem just for calling for help,” Bibbens said. “But if someone’s life is at risk, I feel that should take first priority.”

Lehigh University senior Alison Slivon said she feels the same way, which is why she’s sought medical treatment for intoxicated friends.

“I’ve had friends who I’ve needed to report and everything worked out,” she said.

Lehigh generally does not contact coaches when a student-athlete invokes medical amnesty for themselves or someone else, according to spokeswoman Lauren Stralo. Amnesty, along with increased patrols, are among various tools the university uses to deal with the extreme drinking that landed four students in the hospital in the last school year.

This semester, more than 100 Lehigh students have been charged with alcohol-related offenses on and off campus, making alcohol the “No. 1 drug on campus right now,” Lehigh police Chief Edward Shupp said.

“We have to play the role of both enforcers and educators when you are at a university,” he said. “If we arrested every person that had a drink under the age of 21, I’d need the National Guard to help enforce.”

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers removed another obstacle to reporting. The underage drinking law was amended a few years ago to protect underage good Samaritans from prosecution as long as they believe they were the first to call 911, that they provided their name when they made the report and that they stayed with the person needing help until first responders arrived.

That amendment prompted more Pennsylvania colleges to add or expand their medical amnesty policies, said Agliata, of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

But the law doesn’t keep the person who gets medical treatment from being charged, which may make a friend think twice about calling 911.

Shupp said at Lehigh, an underage student who needs medical help for intoxication will face criminal charges.

After Piazza’s death at Penn State, lawmakers are taking a closer look at hazing laws in Pennsylvania, said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for Republican state Sen. Jake Corman, the majority leader, who represents Centre County. In that discussion, they also are taking a closer look at the good Samaritan law, she said, adding that it was meant “to achieve a balance of helping people but also deterring an activity.”

College amnesty policies don’t circumvent state laws. And they don’t keep parents from finding out if a student is hospitalized. But they do encourage responsible behavior, said Joel Kuneck Jr., a Kutztown University student, because they “make it easier for someone that is afraid to seek help.”

Agliata’s group works with colleges to create better substance abuse and amnesty policies and recently helped Virginia Polytechnic Institute implement what Agliata considers a model.

Virginia Tech calls it Self-Reporting Bystander Intervention rather than amnesty to emphasize that something will be done when the policy is invoked. The key component is education. While the college does not pursue conduct charges against students who use the policy, it does require them to go through an educational program, counseling or an assessment, said Rohsaan Settle, director of student conduct.

The educational component is not unusual. Lafayette, Lehigh and Muhlenberg all include education and counseling requirements in their policies.

Virginia Tech’s lists many exceptions that would not be covered under the policy, including abusive conduct, sexual violence and hazing. And students are limited to using the policy only once during their time at the university. As for how it applies to athletes, Settle said, “We do notify athletics when a student-athlete potentially violates a policy, just in case it impacts their NCAA status.” But, he said, once the college is convinced the student legitimately used the policy, athletics is informed that the student will face no disciplinary action.

After revising the policy last year, Virginia Tech officials took an important step that some colleges overlook, Agliata said. They put a lot of effort into making sure students understood it.

Settle said they shared it with fraternities and sororities, publicized it during orientation and at the student organization fair, placed an ad in the student newspaper and put up posters in dorms. Student Conduct plans to survey students this month about their knowledge of the policy.

“We’re not trying to get people in trouble, we’re not trying to ruin people’s lives,” Settle said. “We just want people to be successful in college and make good decisions.”

BUILDING A POLICY

Students for Sensible Drug Policy recommends this checklist for college medical amnesty policies:

Does it apply to alcohol and other drugs?

Does it shield the victim from disciplinary charges?

Does it shield the caller and/or bystanders from disciplinary charges?

Are there frequency restrictions associated with this school’s medical amnesty policy?

Are the policies easily accessible and clearly stated?

Are parents notified when a student uses or is protected by the policy?

Is law enforcement notified when a student uses or is protected by the policy?